In the face of dwindling global funding, tariffs, and geopolitical tensions, African Development Bank Group President Akinwumi Adesina said on Friday that Africa must wean itself from aid dependency and urgently chart its future through self-reliance, strategic partnerships, and leveraging its vast natural resources.
He spoke on Friday in Abuja at the 14th Convocation Ceremony of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), where he delivered a thought-provoking lecture.
The address “Advancing Africa’s Positioning within Global Development and Geopolitical Dynamics” outlined a bold vision for Africa’s future in a rapidly changing global landscape.
“The recent dismantling of the official development aid agency in the US, and similar anti-aid measures in other parts of Europe, means that the old development models that Africa has always relied on will no longer work,” he told the audience.
“The era of aid or free money is gone. African countries must now learn to develop via investment discipline. Countries can no longer rely on aid for growth or count it as part of government revenue, as has been the case for decades. Benevolence is not an asset class,” the Bank Group president said.
At Nigeria’s largest open university, Adesina emphasized that Africa must overhaul its approach to achieving fast-paced growth and development. He said for the continent to spur growth it should rapidly ensure the full implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area: “Produce local, buy local, trade more locally,” he charged the continent.
Adesina highlighted several critical challenges facing the continent, including declining development aid, restrictive immigration policies, undervalued natural capital, and global tariff wars. However, he positioned these challenges as opportunities for Africa to redefine its global standing.
The African Development Bank is leading the development of a new framework to re-estimate Africa’s GDP based on the proper valuation of its vast natural capital. This will lower Africa’s debt to re-estimated GDP and expand its ability to borrow more resources to finance its development. The Bank believes properly valuing Africa’s green wealth will improve the risk profiles and credit ratings of countries across the continent.
He said of recent global tariff tensions: “47 out of 54 African countries have been placed under higher US tariffs. The immediate direct effects of the tariffs on African countries will be a significant reduction in exports and foreign exchange availability. This will send other shock waves through African economies.”
He continued: “Local currencies will weaken on the back of reduced foreign exchange earnings. Inflation will increase as costs of imported goods rise and currencies devalue against the US dollar. The cost of servicing debt as a share of government revenue will rise, as expected revenues decline.”
To build resilient economies, Adesina said: “Africa must chart its future, relying not on the benevolence of others but on its own determination for self-reliance, building reliable alliances, leveraging opportunities in the global dynamics, while putting Africa first. Only then will Africa be great again!”
Some key initiatives led by the African Development Bank under Adesina’s leadership include the establishment of the Africa Financing Stability Mechanism to help African countries refinance debt service payments; the development of Security-Indexed Investment Bonds to rebuild areas devastated by conflict; the creation of the African Credit Risk Agency to fairly assess Africa’s investment risks; the implementation of the $25 billion African Adaptation Acceleration Program to support the continent’s resilience to climate change; and the development of a framework to revalue Africa’s GDP based on its natural capital wealth.
The Bank Group president emphasized the importance of adding value and processing natural resources, explaining that this is the key to Africa’s future prosperity. He also cautioned that Africa must also carefully negotiate its engagement in the global geopolitical rush for critical minerals and rare earth elements.
“Africa can be competitive in these global value chains. It must move away from exporting raw minerals and move into processing and value addition to benefit from the high returns at the top of global value chains,” Adesina said who was accompanied by his wife Grace Yemisi Adesina.
He called for greater value addition to everything Africa produces, from oil to gas, minerals, metals, rare earths, and agricultural products.
The African Development Bank is working with the African Union and the Economic Commission for Africa to develop the African Green Minerals Strategy. The strategy will support countries in embracing strong corporate governance, transparency, environmental protection, and sound mineral stewardship, including social responsibility and protection of communities’ lands and rights.
“Africa must end the exports of its raw materials,” Adesina warned. “The export of raw materials is the door to poverty. The export of value-added products is the highway to wealth. And Africa is tired of being poor.”
The lecture also addressed the importance of investments in youth education and entrepreneurship. With Africa’s population projected to reach 2.4 billion by 2050 and 75% under 35, Adesina stressed the need for quality education and skills development aligned with the digital economy.
As he approaches the end of his second five-year term as president of the African Development Bank Group in September, Adesina reflected on his legacy of strengthening and transforming the institution. Under his leadership, the Bank’s general capital increased from $93 billion in 2014 to $318 billion today, while achieving recognition as the Most Transparent Financial Institution in the world for two consecutive years.
Adesina will be awarded an honorary doctorate from NOUN on Saturday. He is dedicating the honor to his late father, Roland F. Adesina, whom he credits with instilling in him the value of education.
The National Open University of Nigeria is considered Africa’s largest and the world’s second largest open learning university. Through distance learning and online education, NOUN offers over 2,000 courses to more than 600,000 students, providing accessible and quality education to all Nigerians.
The Vice Chancellor of the university, Prof. Olufemi Peters, told the gathering that Adesina was carefully chosen to deliver this year’s convocation lecture “to enable Nigerians to benefit from his outstanding global experience”.
Adesina also performed the groundbreaking ceremony for the Regional Training and Research Institute for Distance and Open Learning building at the university. The institute is a flagship open and distance learning center in West Africa.
Source: https://www.afdb.org/en/news-and-events/press-releases/era-aid-or-free-money-gone-africa-must-overhaul-its-approach-toward-achieving-fast-paced-development-82827